Sabres' Reinhart gets in his first training camp practice

Jason Botterill is hopeful Conor Sheary can be ready for the first regular season game

Buffalo, NY (WGR 550) - Sam Reinhart had his first practice on Thursday after signing his new two-year contract. The winger really didn’t say if he was hoping for more, but he did say, “I want to be here as long as possible and whether it's a one-year or an eight-year, it's not changing my mentality, that's not who I am and I want to be a part of the solution."

Reinhart was here in Buffalo skating with his teammates until camp started. He then flew home to Vancouver to work out with the UBC Thunderbirds. Reinhart said, “It was probably one of the most challenging week in a half I've been a part of. The best thing I did was come in early and be around the guys because now it just feels like I missed a few days."

The two sides couldn’t come to terms before training camp started, but GM Jason Botterill said it wasn’t a difficult negotiation, “No not at all, both sides understood that at the end of the day, both sides wanted Sam part of our group here and sometimes it takes a little longer to go through the entire process.”

Botterill knew Reinhart wanted to be a part of this group when he came back to Buffalo for two or three weeks to work with his teammates.

I asked if Reinhart getting a two-year contract means he has something more to prove. Botterill said, “I think it’s a situation where all our young players have more to prove, whether it’s Eichel, Ristolainen or Sam, players that have been in the National Hockey League.

“I think it was a great step for Sam last year in the second half and our job is to carry it into this season.”

Botterill thinks there’s a chance Conor Sheary could be ready for opening night. Botterill said, “We're hopeful that within the next week here he can be back into the mix. That is certainly our hope that he'll be ready for the start of the regular season."

Zach Bogosian was back at practice going full speed. He said the team has protocols in place for players coming off of surgery and that’s why he missed a few days. The team did the same thing to Marco Scandella last season.

Phil Housley confirmed that the team in Toronto will come from Group 1 that skated on Thursday. The lines were: